A Google Message bug where notifications are being sent to the users even when the business was blocked previously.

The spam issue with RCS is so annoying that even after unsubscribing (using the STOP text), they send messages with new identities (the company is the same).

Carriers like Jio and Vi verify these businesses (in India) but seems like these businesses are using loopholes to spam users even after being blocked by users.

@GappsLeaks

Ping Browser: Just a Brave rebrand, or something actually new?

The Ping Browser, which emerged as a second-place winner in India’s Web Browser Development Challenge, is now facing accusations of being just a Brave Browser rebrand while receiving received ₹75 lakhs in government funding. The "Atmanirbhar" initiative aimed at developing local technology sparked a controversy that initiated discussions about innovation practices, ethical standards, and taxpayer money usage.

TX and their team (Google Document), including @_mostwanted002_, @eshwnsingh, and @0xcowsecurity, accused Ping Browser of being a rebranded version of Brave Browser, an open-source browser focused on privacy. Their research revealed that Ping’s installer, "ping_installer (1).exe" contains files like "brave.exe" and "chrome_proxy.exe," with a directory structure being ditto same as Brave’s.

Ping’s GitHub repository, "ping-browser/ping-core," is a public fork of Brave’s "brave-core," with commits showing minimal changes like syncing with Brave’s updates and adding features such as a PDF signer and parental control extension. They didn't even make the repositories private. This "white-labelling" violates the competition’s spirit, with TX calling the ₹75 lakhs prize a "waste of hard-earned taxpayer’s money." This also violates Brave's terms of use.

Ping Browser is linked to FutureFlare Technologies LLP, its parent company, registered in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, at a farm address, as per its business profile on Falcon Ebiz. The company which has been active for about a year lists three directors, including Uday Bansal and his parents showing it operates as a family business. Despite its registration in Ghaziabad, Ping claims its headquarters are in Bengaluru, a hub for tech innovation. So fishy, lol.

Uday Bansal, identified as Ping’s founder responded to the allegations on LinkedIn. In replies, Bansal attributed the issue to an executable path bug causing conflicts with Brave, which he said is being fixed. He defended Ping’s compliance with the MPL-2.0 license (sections 3.2 and 3.3) and highlighted added features: Parental Controls, AI Summarizer & Rephraser, Hardware Token-Based Signatures, and Indian Root Certificate Support. Bansal even mentioned the video tour of Ping (attached) to demonstrate its functionality, comparing its development to Brave’s evolution on Chromium.

Uday Bansal also got a shoutout from his cousin brother Rachit Agarwal who works at Wormhome, a crypto firm. Rachit mentioned how they worked on probable startups and sought VC funding for a crypto payment and a T-shirt brand.

UPDATE: The funds of the prizes (₹75 lakhs for Team Ping and other prizes) have not been released as of 23rd March 2025.

🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks